The fact that Sunday’s Explosions in the Sky show was sold out surprised me, but it shouldn’t have. The Austin-based band, after all, plays the kind of music that everyone describes as ‘epic’ and ‘mind-blowing.’ Obviously, most Milwaukeeans can get into that, as evidenced by the glowstick wielders in attendance, and the conversation of the […]
March 23, 2008
Originally from Tel Aviv, it will be a treat when punk trio Monotonix perform at Echo Base on Mar. 27 with Call Me Lightning and Cougar Den. Most of the stories involving the band have some variation of “balls-out” as a gig description (in one YouTube video of their live show, the drummer was lifted […]
March 21, 2008
Three days after seeing Swedish troubadour Jose Gonzales at the Pabst, I’m still marveling at how economically powerful it was. I left the theater in a daze — bewildered by how one man with a guitar, a percussionist with conga drums, and a woman singing back-up could give such a powerful performane. There were no […]
February 25, 2008
This was a tough decision: Juniper Tar played Turner Hall, and XYZ Affair (fronted by ILL Groove Movement) was at Stonefly. In the end it was the bombastic video of Nicole Atkins performing her hit “The Way It Is” on Letterman (watch it on YouTube ) that helped me decide to trek out to Bay […]
February 21, 2008
Singer Rohner Segnitz‘s band Division Day has never been to Milwaukee, but he knows what local music sounds like; he was a big fan of the Promise Ring (and also Dismemberment Plan, which isn’t local but whose bassist was in Maritime). In the last year, they’ve also been compared Davey Von Bohlen’s Maritime. “None of (the […]
February 18, 2008
Before the English Beat came onstage, a roadie set big, full-sized towels down onstage, one for each band member. I thought that was a little odd — why towels? Why not little tissue holders? I love Dave Wakeling’s bands — English Beat and General Public were bands I grew up listening to, but I didn’t […]
February 16, 2008
Since I first saw them play about six months ago, I’ve said this randomly to various people at various times: Collection of Colonies of Bees may be my most favorite Milwaukee band of all time. I saw them open for Slarrafenland (the Danes) that I was blown away. I bought a copy of “Birds” that […]
January 28, 2008
1. Vampire Weekend -Â I was whining to a friend about the lousy Coachella lineup (this may be the first one I’ll miss in five years), and he said: “I have two words for you: Vampire Weekend.” So I looked them up and couldn’t stop listening to it. Shades of the Clash, some afro-beat influences, […]
January 17, 2008
You would think that the White Rabbits have a co-dependency problem — they have two singers, two drummers, and everyone in the six-piece band plays pretty much every instrument available onstage. “Yeah, we’re trying to score a second bassist as we speak,” said Greg Roberts, over the phone laughing. (He sings the catchy-as-hell “The Plot.”) […]
December 31, 2007
I live for lists. My friends and I make the best-of music lists every year for shits and giggles. I started writing this list in September, mostly because last year I didn’t have a top 10. It was more of a top 6, because I didn’t like as many albums as I thought I would. […]
April 1, 2008
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